Pep Guardiola raises pitch concerns ahead of Man City Club World Cup final

Pep Guardiola has expressed concern at the state of the pitch at the King Abdullah Sport City Stadium ahead of the Club World Cup against Fluminense on Friday.

The Blues beat Urawa Red Diamonds 3-0 in Tuesday's semi-final but the playing surface was beginning to cut up during what was the fourth match played at this venue in eight days during this tournament.

Fluminense beat Al-Ahly 2-0 in the first semi-final on Monday but afterwards their coaching staff and players also raised concerns about the state of the pitch. They also said the grass was shorter than at the training venues and that the ball wasn't rolling as they were used to.

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But the pitch is also showing visible signs of wear and the 62,200-capacity stadium does play host to Saudi sides Al-Ahli, Al-Ittihad and the Saudi Arabia national team.

Guardiola insisted his side would adapt but said this kind of issue always came low on a list of priorities for tournament organisers.

"The pitch conditions were really not good, honestly, but we know how that business works," he said. "It’s what it is, this stadium hosts three clubs, last 15, 16 days, they didn’t play much.

"We’ll adapt, I would have loved to have a better pitch for both teams, in football the conditions for the players is the last thing the biggest organisations take care of. It doesn’t matter, we’re going to play on that and do our game."

City's squad have a day off on Wednesday before resuming training on Thursday to focus on Fluminense, the South American champions and the side standing in the way of the Blues winning a fifth trophy in 2023.

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